Microsoft Corporation Ditching Nokia, Windows Phone

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) would abandon Nokia name and would no longer use for its mobile products, according to a leaked internal document. While the sale has been indicated by the company previously, the document obtained by tech blog GeeksOnGadgets just confirmed that.

Elop hinted the same previously

The document notes that soon the software giant will no longer prefix Nokia in the Lumia device and will call it just Lumia. Back in April, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, now head of Microsoft device group said that he is not expecting Nokia name carried on Lumia devices in the future.

“Nokia as a brand will not be used for long going forward for smartphones,” Elop said in a Q&A on Microsoft Mobile’s Conversations blog. Elop said that the go-forward smartphone brand selection is in the process.

Microsoft concluded the deal and acquired Nokia device businesses for more than $7.2 billion in April. After the takeover, the company was renamed as Microsoft Mobile, and as a part of the deal Nokia name was being used to promote Windows operating system.

Also, Microsoft is said to remove the “Phone” add on to its “Windows Phone” branding as per the report from GeeksOnGadgets. Microsoft is planning to go ahead only with Windows logo. Elop indicated these developments previously, when he said that it will not be ‘Nokia Lumia 1020 with Windows Phone on the AT&T LTE network’ as there are too many words used, which is not a comfort in speaking.

What is Microsoft Corp’s intention?

In the latest ads of Lumia 930, Microsoft shied away from mentioning Windows Phone and simply referred to as Windows. Another phone from HTC, M8 running on Windows, also, dropped Windows Phone name and just mentioned Windows. Similarly, Cortana commercials do not talk about Windows phone precisely except for the small URL during the entire 30-seconds spot. There is no mention of the Windows Phone for the latest Lumia 530, Lumia 730, and Lumia 830 handsets.

The obvious reason behind dropping ‘Phone’ from Windows is that Microsoft is focusing on universal app across the phones, PCs and Xbox. This certainly does not mean that Windows Phone operating system is obsolete, but implies that the company will not use it as a brand in marketing material in the future.

Author: Aman JainAman is MBA (Finance) with an experience on both Marketing and Finance side. He has worked as a Risk Analyst for AIR Worldwide, and is currently leading VeRa FinServ, a Financial Research firm. Favorite pastimes include watching science fiction movies, reviewing tech gadgets, playing PC games and cricket. - Email him at amanjain@valuewalk.com